


Stillshots in Time

by Rider_of_Spades



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Angst and Tragedy, BAMF Sawada Tsunayoshi, Crossdressing, Domestic Fluff, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fanart, Female Sawada Tsunayoshi, Humor, M/M, Male Sasagawa Kyouko, One-sided Sawada Tsunayoshi/Sasagawa Kyouko, Protective Xanxus (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), Ten Years Later, Vongola Decimo Sawada Tsunayoshi, cisbending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-02-22 10:30:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22714633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rider_of_Spades/pseuds/Rider_of_Spades
Summary: In which I post X27 (Xanxus x Tsuna) art, occasionally with accompanying fanfic shorts.
Relationships: Giotto | Vongola Primo & Ricardo | Vongola Secondo, Miura Haru/Sasagawa Kyouko, Sawada Tsunayoshi/Xanxus
Comments: 14
Kudos: 157





	1. Never Again

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/160049502@N02/49534151361/in/dateposted/)

###  **Translation of speech bubbles:**

Lussuria (covering Xanxus with a blanket): Mou, boss. Even if Sawada's death _is_ a happy occasion, you still shouldn't keep binge-drinking like this.

  
Xanxus (holding Tsuna): Play dead again and I'll kill you.

......

###  **Storyline:**

The minute Xanxus received news of Sawada Tsunayoshi's death, his rage had preceded his powers of comprehension. Therefore, he never had the chance to wonder _why_ he was angry, if there could be a reason at all. In the end, it had taken all five of his guardians to subdue him, and none escaped unscathed.

  
It was a very lucky thing the Millifiore attack had only managed to arrive three days later. Very lucky for the Varia indeed.  
  
The hyenas had come, expecting to find a furious but injured animal, logic and calmness shattered. Instead, they were greeted by the opposite. The _demon_ their foolish arrogance had prompted them to hunt was so relentless in his slaughter that he did not even spare those who fled or surrendered. It was only as the rain, the mocking, dancing rain, descended and bled away Xanxus's bloodlust that he raised his head and stilled; his subordinates also falling silent.

_Varia leader,_ the rains sighed.

_Varia leader._

Most proficient among the most feared of assassins, boasting hefty coffers and immeasurable power. And all he could do was kill one insignificant ant after another, and still they would rise, the maggots. He raised his head and closed his eyes, while the taunting drops sang away.  
  
(And after that something in him became quiet, and his temper would never quite seize his sanity, ever again.)  
  
He drank and drank the week after. And drank and drank and drank. A late celebration, he announced. Come, toast my rival's death. His men obeyed warily, then sipped their single glasses. Their eyes watched with weary knowing as he tumbled closer to alcoholism.  
  
(It took Reborn's condescension and Iemitsu's grieving pity to wake him up. His hair, already untended since an unknown day, was really growing out by then. He decided to keep it as it was, even as he threw out the last of the vodka and shaved.)  
  
It was now spring the year after. He would still not say 'I miss you'. He never will. He was Xanxus, and Xanxus took the life that screwed him over and rode it like he anticipated submission. Nevertheless, he spoke to the body he had not seen off, even at its funeral, and amidst the gazillion casual insults there might've been a subtly slipped-in admission of "I'm sorry" and "I forgive you".  
  
  
....

  
  
"Play dead again and I'll kill you."  
  
That's all he bothered to utter. This would be the first and last time he met the young brat outside of battle, just before Sawada Tsunayoshi went home.  
  
Good riddance. Xanxus can't wait to punish his older counterpart. Maybe he understood why he felt this urge now; he couldn't really bring himself to care.  
  
And Tsuna, in that brief second's touch, might have been recoiling in shock from the suddenness....if his Hyper-Intuitive's eyes had not stared at something beyond them both, and sparked with instinctive tears.


	2. The Morning After

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/160049502@N02/49559932947/in/dateposted/)

Tsuna dabbed his face clean and blinked at the mirror. The expression that greeted him hardly did justice to the depth of his nervousness. For a moment, it almost felt as if he was back in high school again, trying to dredge up his courage to behave naturally around Kyoko.  
  
 _As if_ , his wry mind answered. _Xanxus would kill you if he realised you'd just compared him to anything feminine._  
  
But that was missing the point. Their affairs had been going on so smoothly, falling into easy habit-just discreet meet-ups for casual sex, no strings attached-when all of sudden, _this_ had happened.  
  
 _All of sudden?_  
  
Tsuna paused to consider that. Had he suspected something like this? Yes. Had he actually expected it to occur? No.  
  
He would have been fool to miss the comfortable morning routine they'd gradually established, fool to miss the way he no longer feared the man or how there were less barbs behind Xanxus's insults. How, past the third month or so, Xanxus had becoming more willing to attend official meetings, and had begun to stay back past the seventh, just for an extra day. They'd also picked up the tendency to mention their subordinates' antics or their current work troubles in passing–making small talk.  
  
Still, to think that those trifles had culminated in a night like the one they'd just had. And he'd thought, after discovering Xanxus's penchant for Rothko, that nothing about the man would surprise him anymore.  
  
It wasn't that the turn of events didn't please him. Indeed, Tsuna had found it increasingly hard in the recent weeks to remind himself not to fall for the man. But how would Xanxus take this possible sign of mutual attachment? Pretend it didn't happen and go on as they did? Shut Tsuna out to protect his bachelorhood's purity? Undo the past year and set everything back to the way it was?  
  
A now-familiar arm pulled him onto a muscled torso as he was busy thinking.  
  
'Xanxus?' His tone was startled.  
  
Uncomfortably warm breath ruffled through Tsuna's hair as his head was nudged down to rest at Xanxus's collarbone. 'Huh. The fuck is this. Cinnamon? You need to get a manlier shampoo, Sawada.'  
  
Laughter bubbled up only too eagerly in his relief. ' _That's_ the first thing you say?! Jeez....' And two left hands twined together in the meantime, supposedly unnoticed.


	3. 5+1 Things (+1 more)

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/160049502@N02/49633885087/in/dateposted/)


	4. Through the Looking Glass

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/160049502@N02/49675185567/in/dateposted/)

Sasagawa Kyo had always presumed. That with Tsuna-chan, it would be different. That it would be perfectly safe to be gentlemanly and protective with her, to be his unguarded and affectionate self around her. No more keeping a polite, wary distance; no more watching a pair of shining, hopeful eyes with an old heaviness, wondering when he’d sent the wrong signals. ( _Again_.) If he did ever see that extra spark in the brunette’s gaze, well, maybe he had been a little too insistent in projecting on her his wants for a younger sister.

After he recognised that familiar adulation in her expression ( _too late_ ), he’d prayed. That she would come to realise, and look at all the men (and women) around her, who were in love with her in their many ways –each no less fervent than the next, all harbouring something his own platonic feelings for her could never hold a candle to.

Even those of to this man; this strange, predatory man, who only chased after her in the shadows.

(and here Kyo’s upbringing reprimands his prejudiced description of an unknown person, though nothing else quite fits)

But in the end, he was still the one she chased after.

Not for the first time, he has to wonder how everyone interprets his dates with Haru.

Because, really now, what else could be deduced from two boys who went on regular, exclusive outings with each other, shared a monthly ritual, who understood each other like no one else and were virtually joined at the hip?

And Gokudera-shi was supposed to be a genius too.

Then again, with the frustrated looks his nii-san often sent Gokudera’s way, she was probably somewhat oblivious romantic-wise. (Not that nii-san could be any more reticent about his feelings).

Kyo shook his head.

Now was not the occasion for worrying about his older brother. Focus.

“You promise to take care of her after I do this?” he queried, studying the figure in the corner. Even with the added time since their last encounter, he still cannot get over how blatant the other male’s appearance is. Every inch of his form –from his monochrome suit and scars rippling across his _ganguro_ skin, to his aged eyes the colour of bloodlust –screamed ‘mafia’. Even the casual hunch of his body against the stonework bespoke of tempered violence. Kyo couldn’t have trusted his dear friend to a man more different than himself.

Truthfully, he should be more worried. Yet he has confidence in Tsuna’s strength; he takes comfort in her multitude of watchful, caring friends. And ever since his sister figure sat him down on a riverbank in the future that (thankfully) no longer existed, some notion of this had already seemed inevitable –even if _this_ man wasn’t exactly what he’d imagined or wanted for her. Up to the point he met that silver-haired sword-wielder, he had been banking on Yamamoto.

“None of your business, trash. Now get this fucking song and dance over with,” the man-beast sneered, hand resting casually on one of his weapons. Kyo merely notes the absence of the far less savoury names some call his kind, and thinks that this killer, of all people, understands. Because even if the pain he must cause poor, sweet, little Tsuna-chan fills him with remorse, he isn’t sorry for not choosing her –he’ll never apologise for falling in love with Haru.

(Xanxus, for his part, simply notices the stiffened body conveying wariness, but without a shred of fear, and thinks that there may be something to this girly shrimp after all).

Kyo nods. Time to end his side-stepping and tell Tsuna the truth. It was no less than she and Haru deserved.

As he walks over to where a smiling, waving Tsuna awaits, he almost falters, the weight of her vulnerability and goodness pressing on him more keenly than ever.

Then he recalls the oddly careful, contemplative blankness in that mafioso’s stare whenever it rested on her, and draws courage from hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How the guardians fit into this scenario–
> 
> Gokudera: Too besotted with Tsuna and dense romantically.
> 
> Yamamoto: Too involved in his own frustrations around an entertainingly embarrassed and scandalised Squalo (Fucking brat’s barely LEGAL!!! VOOOOIIIII!!!!!)
> 
> Ryohei: being Ryohei. (and rather confused over the flip-flops his organs do whenever Gokudera gets in his face and is that cleavage winking at him down the shirt there *O_O)
> 
> Lambo: Still a kid. Tsuna wouldn’t take him seriously anyway.
> 
> Mukuro: Hasn’t watched a decent soap opera in months.
> 
> Hibari: Does. Not. Care.
> 
> Chrome: Sad for Tsuna and does try to tell her, but never underestimate the power of chaos and Tsuna’s denial.
> 
> In steps Xanxus, too aggressive and impatient to wait on this sort of shit. :P
> 
> P.S. Since everyone's probably getting stir-crazy at home self-quarantining from the coronavirus (I know I am), I'll be releasing some more KHR works and some works from other fandoms too.


End file.
